O RLY?

Irony is officially dead.

The U.S. is concerned about the centralization of power and democratic
backsliding ahead of Russia's legislative and presidential elections in
December and March. Putin will step down next year as president. He has
said he would lead the ticket of the main pro-Kremlin party in the
parliamentary elections and could take the prime minister's job later.

Rice sought opinions and assessments of the situation from eight prominent
rights leaders.
...

Lyudmila Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group told the Interfax news
agency her organization sees "the purposeful construction of an
authoritarian society and an onslaught on the people's rights, elections
are being turned into farce, and human rights and opposition organizations
are experiencing pressure."

Alexander Brod, head of the Moscow Human Rights Bureau, said the
discussions touched on "authoritarianism and the crisis of human rights."
He said he disagreed with "the opinion that we had a flourishing democracy
in the 1990s and that we have a setback now."

"Not all is ideal in America, either. We see protests against the war in
Iraq and violations of human rights on the part of security services and
violations of human rights in countering terrorism," Brod said.

Vladimir Lukin, the government-appointed human rights ombudsman, was
quoted by Interfax as saying he told Rice that human rights should be
discussed in a dialogue rather lecturing in a "doomsday" style.